The Sea Baron (Sægreifinn) stands proud in a cheerful, turquoise-green building on Reykjavik’s old harbour. The name refers to both a man, Kjartan Halldórsson, a former fisherman and Icelandic Coast Guard chef, and his restaurant, Sægreifinn, famous for serving the best lobster soup in the world.
Arriving on the table in a steaming bowl and with a plate of thick-sliced bread, the recipe of this illustrious lobster soup is shrouded in secrecy. That only serves to amplify the taste and leave you guessing what secret ingredients are swirling among the chunks of tender lobster, onions, carrots, and cream.
For the uninitiated, seasons have an effect on the taste and texture of lobster meat. Lobsters generally moult in the summer, leaving their shells soft and the meat more delicate than the firm, flavourful bounty which comes from within the hard shells found in the autumn.
No matter which season, the lobster soup at Sægreifinn will always be exceptional. Mr Halldórsson is somewhat of an expert, after all.
Not only does he own the restaurant located at Geirsgata 8 in Reykjavik, he also owns the adjacent fish shop, and smokes his own eels down at the docks. This expertise ensures that regardless of what you select from the seafood-centric menu, it will taste as if it just jumped from the Atlantic Ocean onto your plate.
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